CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's not that Aaron Jones failed to show this season that he still belongs in the conversation among the NFL's elite running backs. It's just been a while.
Fifteen weeks, to be exact.
Jones did some of the same things in Sunday's 33-30 win over the Carolina Panthers that he did in the season-opening win over the Chicago Bears, most importantly topping 100 total yards from scrimmage.
In between, Jones dealt with hamstring and knee injuries that limited him to just seven more appearances. In most of those, he was on a snap count or not 100% before this Week 16 game that kept the Packers in the NFC playoff race at 7-8 with two games to go.